nelsonian

We are planning visiting NYC in November 2012, high season. We will be there for at least 16 days,

My question if hotels are in demand this time of year are there still bargains to be had on Priceline and when would be the best time to start making bids. Presumably a lot closer to the time, but how much closer? DD lives in Long Island City so would be bidding on hotels in that area.

Thanks

mztery

First, long Island City is not NYC as far as hotels go.
next, it depends on how set your plans are. PL is NOT refundable so you have to be really sure of your dates.
Third, PL is not a good option for long stays, you would have to bid (most likely) a few days at a time or possibly move ever few days if there's not "extend your stay" offered.
Fourth, PL is usually lover than published rates but not always and deals are not as good at they used to be.More lie 20% off in some cases.
You might plug into Hotwire.com for your dates and see what kind of prices are showing. Keep in mind Hotwire "star levels" are a good 1/2 to 1 star below what PL gives.

You might also look at the other hotel sites - quikbooks.com, expedia, travelocity and check kayak which is an aggregator.

nelsonian

There are quite a few secret hotels on Hotwire. the problem is the Long Island City area goes out to Elmhurt. Any tips on how to work out the ones close to the 59th St bridge?

sf7307

Using better bidding dot com, you can often match up the amenities for the likely hotels in an area to the available hotels. I have yet to stay in a Hotwire hotel that I had not pre-identified correctly (including the Doubletree Suites Times Square just two nights ago). If you tell me your actual dates, I can try to do this for you (we're home "vegetating" tonight after a two-week trip back east that included our son's wedding).

nelsonian

At this stage sf307 12th Nov - 26th Nov.

nytraveler

I assume "we" is two people who can share a single double bed - since that is all Priceline guarantees and that is a very common configuration in NYC hotels.

If it were me I wouldn't start in LIC - but in the City proper - but that's your decision.

I recommend that you start searching now and reserve something that yuo can live with - so if the other options don't work out you haven't waited until the last minute and lost any chance at direct hotel deals (some places will give lower rates if you prepay far in advance).

Then when you get closer you can look into Priceline (but once you get beyond 3 or 4 nights it can be difficult to get one hotel) and the other discount services.

starrs

I agree. I'd search for hotels in Midtown - either east of west. Read betterbidding.com to see what kind of deals people are getting and use their list to see the potential hotels in each area. I've gotten great deals when bidding on 4star hotels in Midtown. I like that area a lot. I also agree that you should look elsewhere than LIC. For 16 days, I'd split the bids into shorter time periods. Do a few days in LIC if you must, but then bid for other areas for shorter time frames. That will allow you to really see NYC and have time to visit with the kids - rather than being tied to their location and time frames.

nelsonian

Thanks for the ideas. I agree that I should book something cancellable now. My problem is we may not be there for the whole time, we may be doing a quick trip to Washington DC for a few days. I think I will book for the full 16 days now but once we have things confirmed I can cancel some of the dates. Dates re Washington DC are dependent on what friends are doing who live in Columbia Maryland.

I will start looking at Priceline beginning-mid October.

Aduchamp1

Why don't you make reservations at a hotel where there is no penalty for canceling now in case bidding does not work out well.

WillTravel

Unless there is a price benefit to a longer stay, I would suggest breaking up your cancel label booking into several blocks. Often if you try to change a booking to different dates later, the new price is higher.

jrjcolllins

We use Priceline and Hotwire a lot but sometimes I've found deals on travelzoo.com. On travelzoo they will tell you the name of the hotel and the price. Quite often they can be cancelled, too. Start looking about 2 months before your trip and check everyday because their inventory changes frequently.

doug_stallings

This is the highest of high seasons in NYC, so I think you're unlikely to find a good deal on Priceline. Just book a hotel in Long Island City, and you'll get a good deal. The one thing I can say is that if you are willing to stay a bit farther away from the subway, you can actually negotiate with the hotel managers for a longer stay, though this is a really busy time of the year, so even then it may not work. And given the difficulty of narrowing down the actual area that is "Long Island City" I would just not go with Priceline. Too unpredictable.

The Ramada in Long Island City is usually the cheapest hotel in the area, but it's pretty far from the subway, and rooms are pretty small. The Comfort Inn and Country Inn & Suites are much closer to the subway.

nelsonian

Thanks Doug, have narrowed it down between Days Inn, (which has reasonable reviews but is close to trains), Comfort Inn and Country Inn and Suites.

ggreen

Funny that people are recommending you stay in Manhattan, when so often posters on here will say the opposite and tell newbies they should look in LIC! As I'm sure you or your DD can attest, LIC is super-quick to access midtown Manhattan. And the prices for a hotel will always be more reasonable than their counterparts across the river.

I did a quick peek a the new Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for you - mostly because I wish I had an excuse to stay there! But though they have lots of availability this far out, the prices are not particularly a bargain. Maybe because of the nice writeup they got recently in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/fa...the-hotel.html

...If you have to start looking farther afield than where your family lives, I can attest to a number of new budget hotels here in western Brooklyn that are all close to subway lines. And another new high-end hotel a little farther out in Sunset Park: http://www.hotelbpmbrooklyn.com/

kodi

If you ate still going to give Priceline a shot, I would
mot wait until Oct . I have sometimes been lucky bidding a few
months in advance . You have nothing to lose
by trying . You just never know .
Good luck

ggreen

nelsonian, since your stay is an extended one, I was going to mention an apartment rental. But that gets iffy here in NYC because the laws prohibit short-term rentals; there's always a lot of back and forth about it on these boards, and I wouldn't want to promote something illegal to visitors to our city!

However, ekscrunchy just created a post about an article from the NY Times that I thought you might find interesting:
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...-few-leads.cfm

Personally, I have found Airbnb to be a good resource, and had been thinking of mentioning it to you. There's also the well-established VRBO. People have differing opinions about Airbnb, but I'd say the fact that your DD is here and could do some reconnaissance for your peace of mind.

nytraveler

Since short-term apt rentals are almost all illegal a lot that you see advertised are scams - either don;t exist or advertised by non-owners. However, in Queens there are a nmber of two-family houses - and renting the non-owner apartment short-term may well be legal. The trouble is, I don;t know how many you will find near LIC.

If looking at airbnb or VRBO do not take anything that your relatives here have not seen with their own eyes.

nelsonian

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I have been looking at Airbnb as well and there are one or two possibilities in LIC that might work. However five months seems to be too far out for people to make commitments. I agree if I do go ahead I will get my DD to check it out when they are back in NYC at the end of August.

In the meantime I will book a hotel that I can cancel when plans firm up.